Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013 is a compact, simple, but surprisingly feature-packed disc burning suite.

The program makes it easy to create simple data discs and audio CDs, for instance: just drag and drop your files onto the list area and you'll be burning the finished disc in a couple of clicks.

That's just the start, though. Burning Studio 2013 can also create data discs with customised, interactive multi-page menus, perfect if you'd like a more professional way to share and present the disc contents.

A built-in backup tool allows you to create backups which may be encrypted, compressed, and span several CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays.

And there are modules to create VCD or SVCD video projects; burn video DVDs or Blu-ray discs from prepared folders; create, browse or burn disc images (ISO, CUE/ BIN and Ashdisc formats are supported); copy discs, erase them, design and print disc covers, labels and booklets, and more.

The focus throughout is on ease of use, though, and so Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013 remains very straightforward, whatever you're doing. Most disc projects are created via the same simple interface, and for the most part all you have to do is drag and drop the necessary files. But experts will find more advanced options are only a click away, and if you need to then you can set ISO and UDF version, enable Joliet, make a disc bootable and more.

Note the download here will take you to the Downloadcrew Software Store where you can download Burning Studio 2013.

Auslogics Internet Optimizer is an unusually comprehensive internet connection tweaking tool.

If you're baffled by networking jargon then there's no need to delve too deeply, though. Just launch the program, choose your internet connection speed, click Analyze and Internet Optimizer will recommend improvements to your system settings. After applying these with another click, reboot, then try a few internet apps and see if you spot any performance gains.

If you prefer to take a hands-on approach, however, opting for a Manual Optimization will display every setting the program understands, and allow you to configure it yourself. There's plenty on offer here: Windows-specific tweaks (auto heuristics, auto tuning), the full range of TCP/IP, WinSock and DNS settings, and even some useful browser-specific tweaks for IE, Firefox and Opera. No Chrome support yet, but that's still an impressive 88 configuration options.

Does it work? The program appeared to improve our test system's download speed by around 6%, according to SpeedTest.net, a small but welcome gain. It's hard to measure changes elsewhere as there are so many factors involved, but IE's browsing performance also seemed noticeably better.

Of course optimising your internet connection is a tricky business, and whether you use the auto or manual mode, it's possible that one of the changes might make your system slower than it was before. No need to worry, though, as Internet Optimizer backs up your original settings before it makes any tweaks, so if you'd like to undo its changes, just click File > Rescue Centre and restore the last backup.

Please note, Internet Optimizer is one component of Auslogics BoostSpeed 5, the company's excellent PC optimisation suite - check it out if you'd like to see what else they have to offer.